THE NEW GARDENER 247 



He will never tire of telling how " rough " (this is the 

 gardener's invariable word) the garden was when he 

 first took charge of it, hoping thereby that two inferences 

 may be drawn : the first, that he is constantly struggling 

 under the burden of the delinquencies of his predecessor, 

 the second, that a compliment is due for the condition of 

 the place under his management. 



And, generally, his work will speak for him. An in- 

 competent or lazy gardener is not common. There is, to 

 be sure, the gardener who " drinks," but he was never 

 in the majority, and he is rarer than he used to be. The 

 bibulous gardener soon drifts down to casual work. He 

 has very little chance of holding good posts for long. 

 The rank and file of gardeners do a great deal of skilful 

 and conscientious work. They are frequently under- 

 manned and over-driven. They are only moderately 

 remunerated. To those who are competent to judge it 

 is often a matter for wonder that a gardener gets through 

 so much. At certain periods of the year he is almost 

 overwhelmed with a mass of tasks, the lightest and least 

 conspicuous of which often takes up the most time. 



The gardener is sustained by plant-love. It is a passion 

 which forbids him to slacken pace. Loving his plants 

 for their own sake, he cannot permit himself to see them 

 suffer from want of proper and timely attention. At the 

 cost of his own comfort and repose the plants must be 

 kept healthy. Their requirements must be met regularly, 

 even if they entail loss of sleep, deprivation of holidays, 

 increasing and unremitting care in foul weather as well 

 as in fair. 



I say that such a creature as this is interesting. I 

 suggest that he is worthy of study. I urge that his 

 virtues are real, even if they are sometimes obscured by 

 exasperating foibles. And I think that it would be a 



